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Sacred March
The Sacred March, also known as The Great March West or Martial Destiny, is a core ideology of the United Federal Republics, as well as its forerunner of the United Tribes. It is the belief that the main purpose or cause of the Republic is the unification of the Home Continent via military conquest, to be realised when the founder nation of Norta reaches across opposite coasts. The ideology suggests that the autocratic republic system of governance, thought to be derived from pre-historical Nortan civilisation, is superior to all others, and is uniquely orientated to ensure continent-wide peace and prosperity post-conquest. It further posits that only after martial conquest of a state and the abolishment of its preexisting societal structures that a nation's people become receptive to this system of governance. As a dominant force, the conquering Republic becomes uniquely positioned to promote or coerce integration and cooperation between member states as a means of mutual benefit and conflict avoidance. After every conquest and subsequent integration, the Republic grows in size, eventually overshadowing all opposition and becoming unstoppable in the completion of its ultimate goal. History The Sacred March is believed to be a seminal ideology that is as old as the historical predecessor of the Federation, the United Tribes, however the precise origins of said nation are shrouded in myth. It has become popularly established that the ancient Nortans, based on the northeastern continental coast, were almost annihilated in a war with a rival tribe. The survivors were absorbed into the victorious tribe. Despite being a minority group, over time the Nortans' culture and influence became dominant within the population - this created the idea that the Nortan civilisation was inherently superior, a "natural" societal system that would become automatically dominant once introduced to a population. As a means of spreading this ideology, the Nortans went on to conquer a number of surrounding territories, forming the United Tribes in the process. In the ancient Republics, integration of a conquered territory was a clearly defined process that took place over generations. The first phase, known as disentanglement, sought to strip the territory of its will to resist through fear and deprivation. This included martial law, conscription of the conquered male population, exploitation of natural resources, and mass deportations. In the second phase, societal systems, institutions and infrastructure would gradually begin to be restored, usually as rewards for complicity in certain areas. The new society would be modelled on, but be subordinate to, the Republic itself. The prosperity of developing areas would encourage surrounding communities to fall in line, although such prosperity was only maintained through a forced dependency on neighbouring Republic territories. This second phase, known as tacit endorsement, would be a means of further eroding the indigenous national identity. It was only after Republic ideals were fully ingrained in a population that the final phase, integration, could be achieved, after which the occupied territory becomes a Republic member state with a semi-autonomous government. In pursuit of the Sacred March, the United Federal Republics has become a world superpower. At its territorial height in the ERA 08-90s, it occupied more than two thirds of the Home Continent. While the similarly powerful states of the Varian Empire and Classical Heartland were eventually defeated by the UF, the western continental Great Empire has generally succeeded in opposing UF conquest ever since the two sides first clashed in ERA 00-00. The Great Empire, and its system of constitutional monarchy, has since been recognised as the perennial enemy of the United Republics, autocratic democracy, and the forcible unification movement of the Sacred March. Criticism The origins and modern concept of the Sacred March has been the subject of much criticism both domestically and internationally. The basis of the concept around Nortan superiority is particularly ambiguous, as it is impossible to establish whether the emergent system underpinning the Sacred March originates purely from the pre-historical Nortan culture, the unnamed conquering tribe, or a synthesis thereof. Some believe the creation of the recognisable autocratic republic system did not occur until much later, and may even have been adopted wholesale from another civilisation entirely. The processes of conquest and subjugation, and their effectiveness as a prerequisite of cooperative peace, has been disputed. Despite their purpose of ending resistance within a conquered population, the prolonged disentanglement phase was thought to be the direct catalyst of the successful uprisings in Heartland and Varia that constituted the New Century Unrest, precursor of the War of the Century. Both the maltreatment of the conquered population and the iron grip over their governance and infrastructure was evidently not sufficient a deterrent, and may have actually encouraged widespread resistance. Outside of the Republics, this inherently hostile ideology has put great strain on the relations with independent nations. The Barbine Republic, the UF's only remaining trading partner, has manage to retain its historic independence through a mixture of delicate diplomacy and armed confrontation, but has been left isolated by UF conquest of its neighbours. In spite of the uneasy situation, Barb has been vocal in its opposition to the policy, equating it to the same imperialism practised by the UF's sworn enemy, as well as comparing it unfavourably to the military strategy of scorched earth. The threat posed to independent nations by the Sacred March has been clearly illustrated in the last century with the destruction of Causeway and Wollus, as well as the profound instability created by the UF withdrawal from Robbiya. Even within the Republic itself, the relevance and application to the modern day political landscape has been questioned. The weakening military strength of the United Forces, particularly after Heartland's destruction of the Nortan capital by nuclear bomb in ERA 10-20, has gradually loosened the grip of the founder states over its integrated territories, necessitating increased autonomy and structural reforms. Although the metastate continues to hold, the future of the Federation is uncertain. In ERA 09-29, it was proposed that the United Federal Republics be disbanded in favor of a looser defensively-orientated economic union of former states, each with equal political power, known as the Eastern Continental Union of Republics. Under such a system, the underlying ideology of the Sacred March and its necessitated universal aggression would also have to be abandoned. Category:Conflicts Category:Premier Timeline